Expert: Jamie Yocono - 10/28/2006

Question
I have inherited some antique dinning room furniture from my late Grandmother recently: table, chairs, butler, buffet... Some of the decorative molding has been broken off.  It seems to have been constructed from the old soy bean substance (not plastic) Possibly early 20th Century, possibly Chippendale brand.  Do you have any suggestions as to where I could find this to replace what is damaged or missing

Answer
Hi Pandora,

Sounds like you got lucky with that inheritance. :)

Your question is somewhat outside the scope of what I do, which is build new furniture. I don't do any repairs, but I have a suggestion to make. There is a pretty neat woodworking store called Van Dykes Restorers (www.vandykes.com) and they sell products for restoring antiques.

I just went to their site, they sell something that might help you out. Here is a link to the page I'm talking about:

http://www.vandykes.com/subcategory/74/

There are appliques of various designs, if you're lucky, you may find the design that came off your piece, and be able to purchase a replacement. The link I sent you is for resin appliques, but they also sell wooden ones. Click on the "wooden" tab and you'll see what they have to offer for antique restoration.

If you don't need a huge piece to replace what's missing, you could always make your own. It's not that hard, you just need the right materials. You could use something like a sculpting clay, and press it into some of the existing molding, to make a pattern mold. Let the clay dry, and you'll have a mold for the new piece. To make the new piece, you could press something like a wood putty into the mold and let it dry. Remove it and then clean it up a little bit when you take if from the mold. An X-acto knife or some small detail chisels might help to clean it up.

Glue it in place, and you should be good to go. You may have to experiment a bit with finishing, as the wood putty may not accept the finish the same way the rest of the piece did. So you may need to be creative about refinishing it. I've seen restorers use everything from oil paint, to watercolors, even colored pencils. So play around a bit and figure it out.

OK, good luck, I hope this helps. Please feel free to write back if you have any further questions after reading this. And if this answer was helpful... please take a minute and rate my service. Thanks!

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com